Rachel Swinehart has commandeered her family's living room in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It's filled with large plastic tubs containing stuff like pink bedding and a coffee maker.
Rachel, 18, is about to head off to Shenandoah College, a small arts school in Virginia, where she'll study harp performance. In many ways, organizing her stuff is the easy part. Talking about the risks of college life ā that's a bit harder.
In recent months, colleges across the country have been facing increased scrutiny over their handling of safety issues such as sexual assault. And statistically speaking, freshmen and sophomores are particularly at risk of becoming victims.
Rachel's mother, Robyn Swinehart, has spoken with her daughter about some things. "Yes, you're of legal age. Yes, you're a big girl now," Robyn says. "But you still have to be aware of when bad things can occur and be conscious of what could happen."
"One thing stuck with me from both my parents, it's like ā you can't really trust anyone fully," Rachel said. "So just be careful of who you know and who you make friends with."
Rachel and Robyn have talked about peer pressure and sex, but they haven't talked explicitly about sexual assault.
[For more of this story, written by Sayre Quevedo, go to http://www.npr.org/2014/08/19/...sk-of-sexual-assault
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